The objectives of this study were to:
To understand how and why coastal countries are more advantaged as compared to landlocked countries.
To investigate which retail goods are mainly imported and transported into Zimbabwe and why?
To examine how retail goods are transported into Zimbabwe; the transport systems, procedure, time taken to transport and the legislation involved.
To identify the channels and corridors Zimbabwe has to depend upon to receive its imported merchandise.
To analyse the risks and encounters involved in transporting goods up to the Zimbabwean borders and the ultimate destinations.
To understand the dynamics of related time frames, logistical complications from point of order to point of delivery and the effect these have on buyers.
To investigate how transporting container lines move goods to Zimbabwe and the involvement of Safmarine Elite Global Logistics and Elite haul lines as major third party players in the Supply Chain process.
The important outcomes of the multiple methods of data collection conducted regarding the challenges of transporting retail goods into a landlocked country were the following:
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Some of the challenges that landlocked countries encounter are inevitable, they come with the territory of transporting and importing goods into a country without a coast (Interviewee 1, 2014), (Interviewee 2, 2014), (Interviewee 3, 2014), (Interviewee 4, 2014) and (Interviewee 5, 2014).
Due to the economic situations in Zimbabwe there are specific products that began to be majorly imported into the country. These products were enforced by the lack of production in Zimbabwe and the closure of most foreign franchises. These retail goods include electronic goods, clothing, footwear, Japanese manufactured automobiles and rice (All participants, 2014).
Shipping from different countries has different shipment times. These are some of the challenges that are inevitable when it comes to transporting into landlocked countries (Interviewee 3, 2014) and (Interviewee 4, 2014).
The biggest challenge comes from dealing with the required regulations and procedures at either the port or at the Bietbridge border post. The problem is that regulations are not always consistent and they differ from time to time. If these systems and procedures were to be regulated then some of the challenges would be minimal (Interviewee 4, 2014), (Interviewee 5, 2014) and (Interviewee 8, 2014).
Again, according to all the participants, different cargo comes with different challenges.
Imported automobiles for instance have more required documentation and different calculation of duty as opposed to grain products like rice (Interviewee 13, 2014). This then implicates automobile importers as they have to incur extra cost and more added challenges.
Interviewee 11 (2014), Interviewee 10 (2014), Interviewee 9 (2014), Interviewee 6 (2014) stated that there were extra costs that could be avoided only if cargo was handled well. Cargo handling is important and ensuring that goods are delivered in the state they were bought in eliminates a lot of extra costs.
However there are certain unforeseen circumstances that occur during the shipping, loading, offloading, transporting process like accidents, bad weather conditions and negligence. It is difficult to always be under the assumption the transportation process will be flawless. Situations differ every time during the supply chain process.
Retail goods into Zimbabwe are mainly transported by road and rail. However due to the poor rail system in Zimbabwe and the unavailability or several locomotives, road
106 transport is more favourable. The bad road conditions in Zimbabwe also make transporting goods difficult as the roads are narrower and poorly maintained.
The most common route that Zimbabwe uses to receive its cargo from different parts of the world is the Durban – Beitbridge route. This route became favourable as it covers a shorter distance from the port.
There are numerous risks involved when transporting goods to their ultimate destinations. According to interviewee 7 (2014), there are issues of theft, hijacking and piracy that can occur during the transportation process. There is also the issue of accidents, there is no guarantee that the journey will be errorless and the goods will arrive at the ultimate destinations without any hindrances. It is unfortunate that these risks cannot be predicted and be communicated in advance, it is a matter of just ensuring that the best is done until the goods are delivered.
Transit times are the biggest challenge when it comes to transporting goods into a landlocked country. Cargo can take up to at least a minimum of 25 days for them to reach their ultimate destination. This affects buyers mainly if they are running a business that entirely depends on replenishing stock frequently. Buyers cannot rely on the exact dates they have been given as they differ from time to time depending on the occurrences of transporting process.
Interviewee 6 (2014), Interviewee 9 (2014), Interviewee 10 (2014), Interviewee 11 (2014), Interviewee 12 (2014 and Interviewee 13 (2014) all stated that the procedures, laws and regulations that govern the transportation of goods into a country through another country are numerous. These regulations start from the port up to the border post and they have to comply with them to allow the release and transportation of these goods. The biggest challenge is that the procedures that require payments change at certain intervals especially at the Beitbridge border post. This is because officials are bribed to ensure the quick release of cargo so they can be transported as soon as possible.
Safmarine NV Container Lines, Elite Line Haul and Elite Global Logistics all play an important role as they transport the cargo from the port to the ultimate destinations. The transporting companies are assigned by the buyers as third party logistics in the supply chain process. They have to ensure that the cargo is transported and delivered to the consignee. Safmarine NV Container Lines is a shipping company and they subcontract the haulage trucks. Therefore their sole importance is ensuring that the goods land at
107 the Durban port. Elite Line Haul and Elite Global logistics unlike Safmarine NV Container Lines are major transporting companies. All these companies are well-known in Zimbabwe and they are the most used transporting companies in the country (Interviewee 1, 2014), (Interviewee 4, 2014) and (Interviewee 3, 2014).
Some of the challenges that are noticeable can be avoided through a more efficiently run system. All the participants stated that bribery and corruption were some of the extra unnecessary costs that had to be incurred.
From the research that was conducted, it shows similar results with the main concern being that the challenges of transporting goods into a landlocked country are inevitable. However according to the research findings, there is a reflection that some of these noticeable challenges can be avoided or be minimal if there is proper supervision, regulated systems and government intervention.
The visual diaries and field notes clearly indicate the processes that are involved in the transporting of cargo from the port. They illustrate all the elements involved from the port to the point of delivery. The challenges that buyers in Zimbabwe encounter and as recipients of cargo in a landlocked country are highlighted through the extra mileage that haulage trucks have to travel from the port to the point of delivery. In a case where Zimbabwe was a coastal country, there was not going to be a need of depending on another country as passage route to receive their imported cargo.
In addition to the extra distance that has to be travelled the problem of having to deal with many elements such as South African Customs, Tax for using the Durban port (Port Charges) and South African toll gates is yet another challenge on the cost factor. If Zimbabwean buyers only had to incur charges based on their actual cargo, the costs would have been far less. South Africa has certain regulations about certain goods that enter their country. Zimbabwe might not have any laws prohibiting certain goods entering the country but South Africa might have restrictions. This then poses as a challenge as they goods have to be confiscated.
From the results gathered one can conclude that indeed Zimbabwe is disadvantaged as a landlocked country.
The dependency factor might be inevitable due to the geological structure of Zimbabwe, but, if government from both the South African and Zimbabwean side could ensure that systems are regulated to allow uniformity some of the challenges would be minimal. The poor
108 infrastructure in Zimbabwe is also a contributing factor and buyers also lean on the government to at least upgrade or maintain the road and rail system. Corruption, bribery and negligence are also challenges that are imposed on buyers that require serious scrutiny.